Group raises land concerns

A LANDOWNER group in Kabwum, Morobe, has raised concern about how its land was acquired for the district station to be established by the colonial administration in the 1960s.
The Nukum-Ketkero Landowners Association, who claimed traditional ownership of the land which Kabwum station was on, had appealed to the provincial and district land authority to clarify the ownership before any future development.
Association chairman Alvin Salok said research had revealed that there was no proper land investigation done in 1960s by the Australian colonial administration before an agreement was signed and the land was purchased.
He said the 19 representatives selected as landowners were not from the same village or clan but were from different clans and villages who had no claim over the land.
“It was confusing for us to identify their existing generation since the records of information provided by the National Archives only has their first name and the name of their village for a 99-year lease of the land,” Salok said.
His information indicated that the 19 landowner representatives were each paid Australian dollars with different amounts ranging from AU$16.68 (K42.85), AU$24.60 (K63.20), AU$39.17 (K100.66), AU$41.15 (K105.75), AU$41.17 (K105.81) to AU$54.28 (K139.50) on May 25, 1964, as payment for the 99-year lease with the State.
“We know that development will come into our district and community, but we want the local authorities to assist in identifying our land boundaries so that we can register our land to facilitate the coming development,” Salok said.
“Currently, there are migrants living on our land claiming to be the landowners and working behind our backs with people in district and provincial government offices trying to claim the land, which we see as illegal.”
Kabwum lands division officer Mathew Sawonga said the proposed idea of Kabwum township came about in 2018 by the district development authority.
However, funding constraints had hindered work.
Sawonga said 70 per cent of the station’s land belong to the landowner group and there was still a lot of work to be done.
He said all the necessary forms from the lands division required by landowners to fill were already given out and they were waiting for the landowners to complete everything before handing them in.
“After that happens, then the lands officers will be on the ground to conduct land surveys, identify land boundaries and deal with other related matters,” he said.
Sawonga said the station would be developed into a township and it was important that all documents were in place before work began.